Oakland Tribune from Oakland, California • 3

v. New Taxes i. Sale Kail Sun.Jan.51969 sc 3 Fan's Drea for m-1 rain li ky rrmii'-, I JUKI For Schools 'Necessary' Some sort of tax election next May, to provide additional money for the financially hard-pressed Oakland Unified School District, will be neces-s a some 75 community leaders agreed Saturday. Exactly what form of tax, and the amount and the uses to which the added revenues will be put were discussed and will be studied by a citizens committee now being formed, according to Stuart S. Phillips, schools superindendent.

Saturday's meeting at the school district offices selected a temporary steering committee to recommend appointment of a permanent steering committee for the prospective tax election as well as to rec- ommend officers for the committee and subcommittees. Leland R. Selna chairman of the schools' Coordinating Community Council, was named chairman of the temporary steering committee of nine other members. These are Don Provost and Sylvester Grisby, both of East Oakland; Ted Phillips, of the Joaquin Miller-area; James Tapscott, of North Oakland; and Ed Case, executive secretary of the Oakland Teachers Assn. and spokesman for the district negotiating council.

John Wells, a parent; Howard Williamson, a student at Oakland High School and co-chairman of the Associated Students. Union; Robert Perl-zweig, of the Jewish Community; and Mrs. Lonnie Hart, of the Skyline area and head of the school volunteer program. Considerable discussion Saturday concerned the priority of needs: elimination of double sessions, decreasing class size, competitive salaries, better teaching conditions and educational programs, and the need for a new high school below East 14th Street, SupL Phillips said. No decision was reached on any matter, pending further' study.

The committee meets again next Saturday in the district headquarters auditorium at 8:45 a.m. 'Overfair Railwa during 1915 San Francisco world's fair cilities cost about $250,000 in 1915. Dair leaned against one of the engines and petted Jones' gray cat, "Tommy." "We're holding both locomotives for $25,000 for the pair," he said. Three of the old "Ov-erfair" cars are still available, at $500 each. The locomotives stand about five feet high.

"Tommy" jumped onto the engine boiler and Dair looked at the steamer and frowned. "There's never been a place large enough to accommodate them," he remarked. No place big enough to hold Louis M. MacDermot's dream. earned a profit It was operated strictly for the enjoyment of the children of Los Gatos, Dair said.

A non-profit organization recently bought it and will install the tracks and engine in a city park. Three of the MacDermot engines were sold about eight years ago to a southern California firm, but were never used. One of the pair remaining at Los Gatos is like new. It hasn't operated since the "Ov-erfair Railroad" shut down at the closure of the fair in 1915. How much does a portion of MacDermot's dream cost these days? The equipment and fair fa By HARRE DEMORO Tribune Staff Writer For Sale: part of the dream of Oakland mystery man Louis M.

MacDermot, with no guarantee it will bring the buyer good luck. "Mac," who died in 1948, designed and built a one-third size steam railroad, and operated it on a 2-mile line at the 1915 San Francisco World's Fair. Two of the steam locomotives and three cars are' stored at Los The heirs of the man who bought MacDermot's railroad about 20 years ago want to sell the items. A few prospective buyers have inspected the equipment, said John F. Dair of San Jose, who is helping the family oi the late Billy Jones dispose of the relics.

0 Because MacDermot was such a perfectionist the locomotives and cars were too big to easily maintain and operate, he said. Dair, who retired last year as executive vice president of San Jose Brick and Tile MacDermot in the 1940s when the craftsman, then in poor health, lived at Los Gates with Jones. To Dair, interested in steam engines since he was a boy, MacDermot was a legend. He rode the trains at the 1915 fair. "MacDermot was a perfec tionist," he recalled.

"He im pressed me as a man of good engineering skill and knowledge." Shy and soft-spoken, MacDermot had few close friends. One person who knew him well is Ralph W. Demoro Alameda railroad historian. He visited MacDermot often in the 1930s and 1940s, and heard the story of a man's dream, and the bad luck it brought him. He, too, rode the trains in 1915.

He tells of MacDermot's dream: a railroad as efficient as the big-sized' ones of his era, but small enough for use at the fair San Francisco was planning tocelebratethe city's rise from the 1906 disaster and the opening of the Panama Canal. Member of a wealthy family, MacDermot designed and financed construction of the locomotives and passenger cars. There were five locomotives, four of which were sleek passenger models, and the other a switch engine for con- sanction of the railroad. The engines, one of which was never finished, were built in a workshop adjacent to the family home at Seventh and Center streets in Oakland. "MacDermot always tried to do everything right," Demoro said.

"To him it was unthinkable to use a passenger engine for construction, or to haul material around in a truck." The 60 passenger and five freight cars were built to Mac-D 0 1 's specifications by cabinet-makers who set up a production line in an unused building of a cotton mill on 23rd Avenue in East Oakland. "He thought the thing at the fairjpould-runis efficiently as the Southern Pacific," Demoro said. But it didn't Management of the fair was uncooperative, conductors stole some of the fares, they collected, and when the exposition closed, MacDermot was unable to salvage- rail and "some other expensive materials. The locomotives and cars Sierra Club Plans Tour oi Quarry Sfe The San Francisco Bay Chapter of the Sierra ChA will sponsor a three-hour tour of the controversial proposed Apperson Ridge quarry site at 1 p.m. Sunday, Jan.

19. '-L. Officials of the East Bay Regional Park District, the Alameda County Planning Department and the appMcast for the proposed quarry permit, Utah Construction Mining win also be on hand to describe the proposal, club officials said. Utah proposes to quarry away 700 feet of the ridge cutting it down to the level of the surrounding valleys. Conservationists say this will do great ham to the wfldenieas plans for Sunol Valley Region-; al Park and the adjacent ecological preserve owned by tfier San Francisco Water Depart ment.

The Sierra Club tour wfll start from the intersection of Welch Creek Road and Calaveras Road at a point on Calaveras four miles south of the Highway 680 freeway. The driving" and walking tour will include overlook sites where the quarry and its relation to the regional park; can be viewed. Pay Hikes for; AC Transit Workers AC Transit's 1,500 employes' got a nine-cent an hour pay raise today, increasing costs-by $152,420 for the first six', months of the year. Under the pay scale, increased because of a in the U.S. Consumer Price Index figure for cost of living bus drivers now make $3.80 per hour.

Another adjustment upward will be made at mid-year and? a third is scheduled to take-effect in January, 1970. Unioi and non-union employes covered are 99 7 pc oval set 109 now Penneys firm payment plan! SAN JOSE 6 bay area stores ALWAYS FIRST QUALITY Fashion Manor dinettes LOUIS M. MAC DERMOT IN CAB IN 1940 A little railroad with no place to go reduced Monday thru Saturday! engine fascinated little 4 the railroad scattered all over the 0 y-MacDermot closed up part of the big house and he and his wife lived in the other portion. He never drank and didn't 9 smoke, but loved candy, and always carried a bag of chocolates with him." As an example of MacDermot's love of precision and engineering, he had an entire wall of his library covered with bound volumes of Scientific American magazine. And so the craftsman lived in the midst of the relics of a its were brought back to the family mansion.

MacDermot, bewildered by his painful experience at the fair, stored the equipment on the property. He became a recluse. Intruders were "chased out," Demoro said, MacDermot had a dog to protect the privacy of the big old estate, by now beginning to deteriorate with age. "You had to duck under the trees to get around the walk outside the garden," he said. "There were remnants of SAVE '20! 5 pc.

octagonal set girl on bench as it paused dream, but he had one brief moment in the sun. In 1940 it was announced one locomotive and some of the cars would be operated at Alameda Zoological Gardens, today Knowland" State -Park. Assisted by friends, rails were spiked into place, MacDermot fixed up an engine, and one pleasant day a whistle echoed through the woods. At about the same time, Jones, an SP locomotive engineer, bought a small engine that had been used at Venice near Los Angeles. Jones needed some rail and Dair had some available at the brickyard.

Jones and Dair became friends and soon Jones' Los Gatos prune orchard had a 1,970 foot long miniature railroad running around its edge. Dair became the regular engineer for Jones' "Wildcat Railroad," a position he held for 18 years. MacDermot's health failed and Jones bought the, equipment, reportedly for $5,200, when "Mac" died. The problem was that Jones' equipment ran on rails spaced 18 inches apart, Dair said. MacDermot, always the perfectionist, built his trains for rails 19 inches apart exactly one-third the size of a real railroad.

"Jones wanted to keep "the MacDermot collection intact," Dair said, and tried to run one of the engines, without success, by re-spacing the rails. But the curves on Jones' little line were too sharp, and the big engines, designed for a perfect rauroad, remained Lin: a big shed. Steam buffs came quietly to look at the unbelievable handiwork of Louis M. MacDermot. Jones' railroad never i Los Gatos, and for sale now Sleek pedestal stylingl Go Id tone pedestal bow and walnut finished high pressure laminated top on the octagonal table.

36" extend to 48" with leaf. The swart choirs hove a woodgrain design on the bock and a contrasting desiga on the inside seat and back. Steal frames. SAVE 20! Decorative touches dominate! Beautiful Maria beige quilt pattern on the chairs, a lovely uecoianVo Jee on the) table leg, pecan finish on the high pressure lunilnulej table top, gold Mylar protective bead on she lobs dgo and bisque metal frames. SAVE '20! 5 pc.

'Mediterranean' style set A decorated 't delight! Weathered oak finished took top and chair heodblocks, wrought Iron on the chair backs, jet block metal frames on the chairs and table. Octagonal table is 36' 48', extends to 6CT with leaf. Treat yourself to luxurious dining a la Mediterranean. No down payment! Use DOWNTOWN DOWNTOWN OeMee SeaFreedec HAYWARD CONCORD MAYFI ELD MAIL 11 SeeVeller Mr. Viewdata An and cat Tommy with one of two MacDermot locomotives now at Dair i i 'Mil I- "tl I it 1.